SMOKED FISH OMELET

Work took me up to the Norfolk coast this week so I couldn't resist stopping by lovely

Cley-next-the-Sea and the smokehouse.  If you haven't been there, you definitately should. 

I decided on a smoked Norfolk bloater purely because I'd never tried one before. 

A good display and I'm sold

Once home, I filleted and shallow fried the bloater, roe and all...

...and then made an omelet using three small eggs and a splash of milk.  The fish was flaked and half added to the omelet with a drizzle of oil, a few shavings of Parmesan and a little cream. 

Season to taste and whallah!

A good choice. 

HOMEMADE MINI SCOTCH EGGS

Believe me. Once you've made your own scotch eggs, you'll never buy a shop bought one again.  I guarantee!


     Ingredients

     4 (free range) eggs

     1kg pork sausage meat (or 10 sausages as I did)

     3tsp mayonnaise

     Grating of Parmesan

     Coating

     4 slices of stale bread (crumbed)

     2 eggs (whisked)

     Flour

     15-20 portions

Start by browning off the bread crumbs ready for coating the scotch eggs. 

Soft boil 4 eggs but so they are still a little gooey in the middle, 4-5mins should do it.  Once boiled put them straight into cold water changing a couple of times to get the eggs nice and cold (this stops the york going dark around the edges)

De-shell the eggs and chop up mixing in the mayonnaise and grated Parmesan.

Split the sausage meat into portions roughly the size of half a sausage.  Take one and flatten it out making sure there are no holes or tears and then dollop a tsp of the chopped egg into the middle.

Carefully pinch the edges of the sausage meat together and gently shape into a ball without squashing out the egg.  Do the same to all.  You should end up with between 15 and 20.

Heat up some oil in a pan.  You can either shallow or deep fry these. Take the first scotch egg and

roll it in to the flour, dip in the whisked egg, roll in the breadcrumbs and then pop into the hot oil.

Fry off all the scotch eggs, placing into a preheated oven at 160 degrees as they are done.

Cook until golden on the outside, turning regularly

Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the sausage meat is cooked through.

Break one open to test if you are unsure.

Best eaten still warm - Enjoy!



BIG BURRITO!

In the big smoke yesterday and treated myself to some tasty street food at Berwick Market, Soho. A delicious chicken, rice, fried bean and guacamole burrito put together by the lovely team at Freebird Burritos. Loads of fillings to choose from, spicy or not. Hit the spot!

SPINACH AND RICOTTA CANNELLONI

We love meat in our family but at least twice a week we try to eat vegetarian.

Pasta's always an easy option and this spinach and ricotta recipe is a great example.

Ingredients

Tomato sauce

Two tins of tomatoes

Two clove garlic

olive oil

Filling

250g Spinach

250g Ricotta

100g Gorgonzola (optional)

Nutmeg

Clove garlic

Egg (optional)

Light Cheese Sauce

50g butter

50g flour

1 pint milk

50g Parmesan

A box of cannelloni tubes

Make up a tomato sauce by frying off the garlic in a little olive oil and then adding the tins of tomato to warm through. 

For the filling, fry off the garlic in olive oil, grate in the nutmeg and add the spinach.  Toss around the pan until wilted and leave to cool.  In the meantime, mix together the ricotta with the gorgonzola and the egg.  When the spinach is cool enough, mix into the cheese.

Make the cheese sauce.

Put the tomato sauce into the bottom of a baking dish large enough to take all the cannelloni.

Fill a pipping bag (or freezer bag with the corner cut off as I did) with the ricotta mix and fill the pasta tubes placing into the dish as you go.

Pour over the cheese sauce, grate on some extra Parmesan and cook in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.

Just look at that! Smooth creamy cheese and rich tomato sauce are a match made in heaven.

An unbelievably satisfying tea.

Serve with a green salad and if your going for the full blow out, homemade garlic bread!

FEAST EAST FOOD SHOW

The rain stopped us getting out in the garden as planned today so instead we decided on a trip over to Chilford Hall to the (undercover!) Feast East food and drink festival - three halls full of wonderful produce from the East of England. Well, mostly from the east - there seem to be a fair few stalls from further afield and even one or two European stands. Still, it was nicely set out and all complimented each other.

First stop was the butchery demonstration where Andrew Northrop expertly worked through a side of a Dingley Dell pig whilst explaining the cuts and suggested cooking methods - very informative indeed.

Next up, a refreshment break care of La Hogue Farm - a delicious free range hog roast roll with all the trimmings! There was a continuous queue of folk most of the day so I doubt they had any left by closing time.

Olives and garlic from the Mediterranean Deli (and a rather large cream cake from the continental bakery!)

A bacon wrap, goats cheese pastry, a lemon tart and a couple of chocolate brownies from Chef Thierry Daugeron who incidentally runs Stamford Cookery School

A round of incredibly creamy cheese from Worthy Chedder. 

Watergull Orchards Apple Juice and a bottle of Raspberry Vinegar from Made in Provence

All in all, a nice show with a wide selection of stalls and good quality produce, most of which were offering tasters.  Possibly a few too many chutney and oil suppliers and I was a little surprised not see the fresh pork on sale considering the demo but that's just if I was being picky. 

In general, very happy with my bag of goodies and highly recommend a visit next year.

  

BREAKFAST FIT FOR A KING!

Bacon, egg, saute potato, kidney, tommy, toast and coffee. Is there anything better?!

101 WAYS WITH.....EGGS!

Since the arrival of our six chickens a few weeks back, egg production has ramped up somewhat and not even the hungry Baker bunch can munch through them.  This week alone, the grandparents, neighbours, friends and even the teacher have had deliveries of eggs.  Interestingly today, I opened the nest box and there were five eggs one of which was two thirds bigger than the others. So I'm guessing the 'mini size' we've been collecting up until now are just beginners. Jolly good!

Needless to say, egg is on the menu and today's delight was swede, parsnip and onion rosti topped with poached eggs and flaked smoked ham.  Delicious!

You'll not find a york this orange in a shop bought egg, I promise you.